PVD Hard Thin Film Coatings
Sutton Tools’ surface coating facility (Surface Technology Coatings) is Australia’s only company providing a combined coating, nitriding and heat treatment service to industry with ultra-hard thin film coatings based on physical vapour deposition (PVD) technology. Using world-leading technology, coatings are available to solve a wide range of problems relating to friction and wear, thereby improving tool performance and increasing tool life.
Tools or components to be coated are first inspected to ensure suitability for coating, and then cleaned using an automatic multi-step process to ensure that they are physically and chemically clean. This is of crucial importance to the success of the coating operation.
Benefits of Surface Technology PVD coatings include:
- Longer tool life – 300% to 1000% increases are typical compared to uncoated.
- Increased productivity – tools can be run at higher feeds and speeds.
- Uniform thickness – will not alter critical dimensional tolerances of components or parts.
- Corrosion resistant – thermally and chemically stable. Not affected by most acids and alkalis.
- Smoother workpiece surfaces – one half the co-efficient of friction of uncoated surfaces results in better surface finish in machining and better mould release in casting operations.
- Lower maintenance costs – the significant increase in tool life means fewer tool changes and less down time.
- More regrinds possible due to the wear land being significantly reduced on coated tools.
PVD Coating Applications
• Hobs • Shaper Cutters
• Injection • Compression • Extrusion
